A Reason To Stay
by purplepagoda
Summary: What happened after Room 147 ended? My spin on how things could have gone. Just one more reason for Alexis to come home. Probably one-shot.


She lies awake, in her bed that night, thinking about the look on Alexis' face in the coffee shop, earlier that day, when she mentioned penance. She looks over at the other side of the bed, and finds that Richard is sound asleep. She quietly pushes the covers aside, and slides out of bed. She tiptoes out of the room. She makes her way through the living room, and past the kitchen. She doesn't stop when she reaches the staircase, instead she climbs to the top.

She finds stops outside of Alexis' room. The door to the young woman's room is slightly ajar. She gently presses her fingers against the door, and pushes it open a smidge more. She steps inside the room, and heads towards the bed. She stops at the bedside stand, and flips on the lamp. The room is mostly bare save for a bed, a night stand, and a lamp the only things Alexis left in the room months earlier.

She takes a seat on the edge of the bed. She stares at the figure lying under a fleece blanket on the bed. She sits in silence for several moments. She fights the urge to flee when the figure rolls towards her. She considers rolling onto the floor as Alexis' eyes pop open. Kate expects a lecture, or an excited utterance.

"Can I help you?" Alexis blinks, sheepishly.

"I am sorry to barge in her without knocking in the middle of the night, but..." Kate begins to explain.

Alexis cuts her off, "I'm not asleep."

"It's two o'clock in the morning, and I know that you have class early in the morning. Why are you still awake?"

"Why are you?" Alexis queries.

"I was just thinking."

"About me?"

"Yes," Kate nods in confirmation.

"That's why you're in my room, sitting on my bed at two o'clock in the morning?"

"Yes."

"If you didn't want me to move back..."

Kate shakes her head, and quickly cuts Alexis off, "No, that's not it."

"Then why are you sitting on my bed at two o'clock in the morning watching me sleep?"

"I was hoping you would wake up."

"I'm awake now."

"I want to talk to you, about something."

"Obviously."

"Earlier, when I met you for coffee..." Kate begins.

"What about it?"

"I mentioned something about penance."

"Yes. And?"

"The way you looked at me, I just couldn't help but think that there was more to the situation. I couldn't help wondering if maybe there wasn't another reason."

"I told you, my dad was right, and..."

"More than that," Kate clarifies.

"Like what?"

Kate shrugs, "I totally understand if you don't want to tell me. If there is something more, and it's not any of my business, you can just tell me so. If I am overreacting, then..."

"Maybe you're not."

"Okay."

"Maybe there is another reason," Alexis suggests.

"It's late, so I completely understand if you don't want to talk about it tonight. If you feel like I'm overstepping my bounds you can say so."

"I'm glad you snuck into my room in the middle of the night to be a creeper, and watch me sleep, in the hopes that I would wake up and talk to you."

"You are?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to tell me, or do you want me to guess?"

"Do I really have to choose one over the other?"

"You don't have to choose anything. It's late," Kate begins.

Alexis cuts her off, "Will you shut the door?"

Kate nods, and rises from the bed. She moves towards the door. She stops halfway across the room, and turns to look at Alexis who is buried under a pile of blankets.

"Shut it from this side," Alexis clarifies, "I want you to stay."

Kate gently pushes the door closed. She quickly returns to Alexis. She once again takes a seat on the bed. Exhausted from a long day at work, and a lack of sleep Kate shifts from her sitting position. She lies down in the bed, next to Alexis in a supine position. She looks over at the red-head, and waits.

"Whatever you're thinking," Alexis begins, "You're probably right."

"I doubt it," Kate argues.

"I know I shouldn't be telling you this."

"I..."

"I mean you're not the one I should be telling at this particular time, but..." she trails off.

"But, what?"

"I'm not ready to tell anyone else."

"You can tell me anything."

"I know."

"But, Alexis, no matter what is going on between you, and your dad, he still loves you. You can tell him anything in the world, and he's still going to love you."

"But I don't want him to say that he told me so. I'm not ready to admit that he was one hundred percent right."

"He's right a lot of the time."

"More times than either of us would like to give him credit for," Alexis adds.

"I don't want to inflate his ego anymore than it already is. I wouldn't want him to gloat."

"He won't gloat about this one. Will you turn off the light?"

"Yeah," Kate rolls over, and flips off the lamp.

"Will you stay?"

"For how long?" Kate quizzes.

"Until I fall asleep."

"Yeah," she agrees, glad that she's finally earned her trust.

"Kate?"

"Yes, Alexis?"

"What if I told you that you were right, too?"

"I won't gloat," she promises.

"There is another reason," Alexis admits.

"I know."

"I'm pregnant."

"I know."

"And, I'm really scared."

Kate reaches for her hand, she squeezes it tightly, and whispers, "That's okay."


End file.
